Middle Years Program

Designed for students aged 11 to 16, the Middle Years Program provides a framework of learning that encourages students to be creative, critical and reflective thinkers. Students learn to make connections between traditional subjects and the real world in an environment that stimulates intellectual challenge.

The MYP is flexible enough to accommodate most national or local curriculum requirements. It builds upon the knowledge, skills and attitudes developed in the IB Primary Years Programme (PYP) and prepares students to meet the academic challenges of the IB Diploma Programme (DP) and the IB Career-related Certificate (IBCC).

Requires the study of at least two languages (language of instruction and additional language of choice) to support students in understanding their own cultures and encourage them to participate in service within the community

Helps prepare students for further education as well as employment

MYP Projects

As part of the MYP programme during years 3, 4 and 5, students may have the opportunity to engage in community projects as well as personal projects, together referred to as MYP projects.

The community project focuses on community and service, where students are given the opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and explore their right and responsibility to implement service as action within the community.

The personal project encourages students to practise and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest.

Student-centred and age-appropriate, MYP projects enable students to engage in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection. They develop the attributes of the IB learner profile and receive a chance to demonstrate ATL skills.

Assessment

At Dar Al Marefa, our assessments are designed to:

Provide feedback to students and teachers to check on performance, learning and teaching

Use reflection as an integral and essential part of assessment

Show awareness about learning styles, cultural, and linguistic differences

Stay within a frame of significant and authentic contexts

Provide evidence of progress through known criteria which is understood in advance by all involved in the process

Our Middle School teachers organise continuous assessment over the course of the process according to specified assessment criteria that correspond to the objectives of each subject.

Teachers are responsible for structuring varied and valid assessment tasks (formative and summative) that will allow students to demonstrate achievement according to the objectives for each subject.

Some of the examples are:

Open-ended, problem-solving activities

Investigations

Hands-on experimentation, analysis and reflection

Debates

Role plays

Discussions

Written/ oral essays

Lectures

Speeches

Interviews

Simulations

Poetry recitals

Dramatic interpretations / oral interpretation of literature

Language & Literature

At our school, the streams of language & literature play out in both Arabic and English. The aims of MYP language and literature are to encourage and enable students to:

Use language as a vehicle for thought, creativity, reflection, learning, self-expression, analysis and social interaction

Develop the skills involved in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing and presenting in a variety of contexts

Engage with text from different historical periods and a variety of cultures

Explore and analyse aspects of personal, host and other cultures through literary and non-literary texts

Explore language through a variety of media and modes

Develop a lifelong interest in reading

Apply linguistic and literary concepts and skills in a variety of authentic contexts

Our Language & Literature (English) students are encouraged to read for pleasure in a bid to develop important reading skills and improve comprehension of more challenging texts as they travel through MYP. Reading initiatives such as Accelerated Reader support our goal to improve reading comprehension.

Language Acquisition

The diverse needs of the learners are met holistically through provision of English and Arabic education. The aims of the teaching and learning of MYP language acquisition are to:

Gain proficiency in an additional language while supporting maintenance of their mother tongue and cultural heritage

Individuals & Societies

Our Individuals & Societies course is offered in both Arabic & English till MYP year 4 and in only in English during year 5. The enriched curriculum features elements of History, Geography, Political Science & Economics that encourage and enable students to:

Appreciate human and environmental commonalities and diversity

Understand the interactions and interdependence of individuals, societies and the environment

Understand how both environmental and human systems operate and evolve

Identify and develop concern for the well-being of human communities and the natural environment

Act as responsible citizens of local and global communities

Develop inquiry skills that lead towards conceptual understandings of the relationships between individuals, societies and the environments in which they live

Mathematics

We encourage students to enjoy mathematics, develop curiosity and begin to appreciate its potential it holds.

Apply and transfer skills to a wide range of real-life situations, other areas of knowledge and future developments

Appreciate how developments in technology and mathematics have influenced each other

Appreciate the moral, social and ethical implications arising from the work of mathematicians and the applications of mathematics

Appreciate the international dimension in mathematics through an awareness of the universality of mathematics and its multicultural and historical perspectives

Appreciate the contribution of mathematics to other areas of knowledge

Develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to pursue further studies in mathematics

Develop the ability to reflect critically upon their own work and the work of others.

Science

From MYP year 1 to 3, we offer integrated Sciences to students. Discrete branches of science – Physics, Chemistry and Biology – can be chosen during years 4 and 5.

By carrying out their own independent investigations and deriving conclusions, students receive the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in the lab across all three sciences and learn through real world experiences.

Build an awareness of the need to effectively collaborate and communicate

Apply language skills and knowledge in a variety of real-life contexts

Develop sensitivity towards the living and non-living environments

Reflect on learning experiences and make informed choices.

Design

MYP design requires the use of the design cycle as a tool, which provides the methodology used to structure the inquiry and analysis of problems, the development of feasible solutions, the creation of solutions, and the testing and evaluation of the solution.

In MYP design, a solution can be defined as a model, prototype, product or system that students have developed and created independently. At Dar Al Marefa we offer digital design from MYP year 1-5

The knowledge, skills and attitudes that students develop in design courses provide a meaningful foundation for further study and help to prepare students for:

Develop respect for others’ viewpoints and appreciate alternative solutions to problems act with integrity and honesty, and take responsibility for their own actions developing effective working practices.

Islamic Studies

Our Primary Islamic Studies Curriculum is designed to develop Islamic awareness and culture among students. We encourage them to be committed to Islamic values and the ethics of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.

This curriculum is based on the Ministry of Education Islamic Studies curriculum, in addition to lessons dedicated to teach the rules of reading the Holy Qur’an. The lessons are planned as units according to the middle school IB Middle Years planning method.

Arts

MYP arts builds on what students learn and do in the PYP and other student-centred programmes of primary education. Through an inquiry-based approach, students are encouraged to continue their artistic development and learning.

The MYP arts courses specifically prepares students for the study of visual arts, music, theatre, dance, film and literature and performance in the IB Diploma Programme (DP) at either higher or standard levels.

We offer two strands of arts in first three years of MYP – Visual arts and performing arts. Students learn drama in years 1, 2 and 3 of MYP.

The aims of MYP arts are to encourage and enable students to:

Create and present art

Develop skills specific to the discipline

Engage in a process of creative exploration and (self)discovery

Make purposeful connections between investigation and practice

Understand the relationship between art and its contexts

Respond to and reflect on art

Deepen their understanding of the world.

Physical Education

The aims of MYP physical and health education are to encourage and enable students to:

Use inquiry to explore physical and health education concepts

Participate effectively in a variety of contexts

Understand the value of physical activity

Achieve and maintain a healthy lifestyle

Collaborate and communicate effectively

Build positive relationships and demonstrate social responsibility

Reflect on their learning experiences.

The objectives of MYP physical and health education encompass the factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive dimensions of knowledge. Together these objectives reflect the knowledge, skills and attitudes that students need in order to develop an active and healthy life; they represent essential aspects of physical, personal and social development.

Exta-Curricular Activities

A wide range of extra-curricular activities, including sports and arts, support the development of leadership across the campus. Here is a quick glance at some of the activities available to PYP students.

Cooking Club

Recycling Workshops

Basketball Club

Math Competitions

Community Service

Action (learning by doing and experiencing) is a key component in constructivist models of education, including the kind of teaching and learning common to all IB programmes.

IB learners strive to be caring members of the community. They demonstrate a personal commitment to service, and act to make a positive difference to the lives of others and to the environment.

Through responsible action, tightly connected with sustained inquiry and critical reflection, young people and adults can develop the kinds of attributes described by the learner profile that are essential for success in future academic pursuits and for adult life.

The MYP aims to help students develop their personal understanding, their emerging sense of self and their developmentally appropriate responsibility in their community.

MYP learning outcomes for service: With appropriate guidance and support, MYP students should, through their engagement with service as action:

These learning outcomes identify the substance of students’ self-reflection on service as action. All of these learning outcomes are closely associated with IB learner profile attributes and ATL skills. Through their participation in service, students can become more confident, self-regulated learners.

Recycling Project

Football Project

White Rose Project

Personal Projects

Student-centred and age-appropriate, MYP projects enable students to engage in practical explorations through a cycle of inquiry, action and reflection. They develop the attributes of the IB learner profile and receive a chance to demonstrate ATL skills.

The community project focuses on community and service, where students are given the opportunity to develop awareness of needs in various communities and explore their right and responsibility to implement service as action within the community.

The personal project encourages students to practise and strengthen their approaches to learning (ATL) skills, to consolidate prior and subject-specific learning, and to develop an area of personal interest.